France: New baguette wizards come from Tataouine

More and more Tunisians producing France’s trademark bread

(ANSAmed) - PARIS, JUNE 26 - What do the town of Tataouine in
southern Tunisia and the smell of a freshly baked baguette have
in common? At first nothing it seems, but strange as it may
seem, there is a connection. It is in fact from this Tunisian
town, gateway to the eternal sands of the Sahara, that a new
generation of bakers have arrived. The men have moved north of
the alps to produce the traditional French loaf, which is to
France as pizza is to Italy.

The boys from Maghreb, and especially the Tunisians are becoming
the new baguette wizards, conquering the savoir faire of a job
which is ever more frowned upon by the French because of its
early morning shifts and its toughness. So it happens that the
baguette moves from one baker to the next until it reaches the
regions where immigrants proliferate, the Cote D'Azur, the Alps
and of course the Parisian area. According to figures published
by Le Monde, in the Paris area, one boulangerie out of three has
been bought by Maghreb people. Th peak is in Seine-Saint Deni,
in the more populous eastern area of the capital, where
according to the Professional association of bakers and
patisserie makers, the man from Maghreb represents 65% of the
528 businesses.

The bread made by the new Boulanger made in Tataouine has
nothing to fear when compared to the best baguettes in Paris and
Normandy, the region which is famed for the quality of its
bread. An example can be seen in the story of Mourad Lagneb, who
opened a bakery in Saint-Denis, near the Stade de France. "do
you realize that with your origins you are dealing with one of
the symbols of France itself?" his father-in-law had warned. As
he confided to Le Monde, Mourad Lagneb feared that a Tunisian
behind the counter would have kept away some of the clients.

Instead, after a few years, he doesn't have any recriminations
and has invested in another two bakeries in the Paris region.

Arrived in France in 1978, when he was 4, the Saint-Denis baker
comes from a family which made bread for years. His grandfather,
Ali, was the first to open a boulangerie. Also him and his
family are from Tataouine, city which has its name linked to the
desert, and now also of good bread. They say that the cradle of
oriental bread is to be found just a few kilometres away, in the
small hamlet of Ghomrassen, where once was a French military
prison, the place which George Lucas also used as a set for Star
Wars. (ANSAmed).